Your Right to Know

NEWARK, Ohio — The head of the Licking County Board of Elections knows she’s in for a bumpy
November after nearly half of the county’s voting locations were eliminated.

“People are going to be upset, and I understand that,” said Director Sue Penick. “But we’re
playing with their money and trying to ultimately be fiscally responsible with it. Hopefully, we’ve
done that.”

Most central Ohio counties have streamlined their precincts in recent years, and Licking County
became the latest by announcing on Tuesday that it is eliminating 30 precincts and more than 20
polling locations. The move is expected to save about $20,000.

Licking County will go from 125 precincts to 95, and consolidate 47 voting locations into 24 or
26 for the November election. The impetus, besides cost-cutting, was efficiency, Penick said. Seven
precincts that served villages with fewer than 200 voters were consolidated into locations that now
will serve a village/township split.

Penick said the streamlining will affect between 65,000 and 70,000 voters, or more than 60
percent of those registered. Those affected will be notified of the changes by mail in the coming
weeks.

Changes in election law in the past five to 10 years have allowed counties to cut costs without,
in theory, cutting efficiency.

More than 30 percent of Ohio voters submitted absentee ballots, for example, in November’s
general election.

“While we all work for the secretary of state, we have a huge commitment to the county that
funds us,” said Susan Bloom, director of the Fairfield County Board of Elections.

Fairfield County eliminated 20 precincts early last year, and Bloom said she’ll look at cutting
or consolidating again after November’s election.

Franklin County will cut 12 polling locations through consolidation for the upcoming election,
forcing about 28,000 voters to new sites. Some private owners of previous polling locations no
longer wanted to host voting, while other sites needed repairs to become compliant with the
Americans with Disabilities Act, said spokesman Ben Piscitelli.

Thompson Recreation Center, on Dennison Ave., where nearly 5,900 voters were registered for the
2012 general election, is being remodeled.

The impact on Franklin County voters will be minimal compared with 2010, when 123 precincts were
consolidated into 61 multiprecinct locations.

Madison County eliminated 16 precincts in 2011, going from 43 to 27; Delaware and Union counties
underwent smaller downsizing in recent years.

“We saved the county about $8,000 per election and, with absentee ballots, the lines weren’t
significantly longer,” said Madison County Board of Elections Director Tim Ward.

The state requires four poll workers for each precinct per election, at a cost to each county of
about $500 per precinct. No precinct can contain more than 1,400 voters.

Penick said the cost-cutting in Licking County will help pay for updated technology, including
last year’s purchase of 105 electronic poll books and this year’s accompanying drivers-license
scanners, which will help speed up the voting process.

“We’ll have some issues this first time, I know that,” Penick said. “That’s why we did it in an
off-year election. But I truly believe that, ultimately, this will cut voting time, not add to
it."